It is believed by many nutritionists that breastfeeding is generally the best source of food and nutrition for an infant. Many experts and mothers believe that numerous immunological and nutritional advantages are provided by breast milk. Because of the benefits of breastfeeding, numerous breast pump devices have been developed which extract milk from a mother's breast for subsequent use when it is inconvenient for the mother to breastfeed the infant.
Although milk obtained by breast pump devices enables an infant to be conveniently fed at a later time, the act of using a breast pump to obtain the milk from the mother may cause the mother to be inconvenienced. Typically, it takes a mother approximately 10-20 minutes to obtain 2-6 ounces of milk to be used for feeding the infant. Because many mothers are “working moms,” these mothers typically have many tasks to complete at home, including feeding their infants in a short period of time. Due to the limited time that a mother has to complete daily obligations, taking time out to breast-feed during busy periods of the day can cause an additional inconvenience to the mother.
While breast pump devices enable a mother to conveniently provide breast milk to the infant without having to actually nurse the infant, breast pump devices require a mother to stop or delay a task at hand to spend time pumping her breast for milk. The mother must generally sit and hold the breast pump to her breast for the amount of time that is required to extract the milk. Taking time out to sit or otherwise use her hands to hold the breast pump is inconvenient for a busy mother and usually requires the mother to delay accomplishing other tasks.
There are numerous devices available that allow a mother to use a breast pump hands-free while pumping. For instance, some brassieres include openings adapted to receive a portion of the pump therein to secure the pump against the breast while pumping. However, this type of brassiere cannot be used during regular nursing, and therefore, it causes inconvenience to the mother when switching between nursing and pumping. Other brassieres include multiple layers that allow a mother to switch between nursing and pumping; however, they often look bulky and unsightly beneath clothing. Another type of brassiere made for nursing include elastics that need to be secured around the pump. This type of brassiere assembly is difficult to use and time-consuming to assemble.
Thus, there is a need in the art to provide a breast pump system that enables a mother to conveniently collect milk without substantially encumbering or delaying the mother.